ROYAL HIGHLAND SHOW

I was planning to go - got 2 complimentary tickets from a friend but thought the weather was to be awful today so I ended up sleeping in and not going only for it to turn out ok!

Got a lesson tomorrow so can't go then either which is a bit of a shame!

Hope the weather stays dry for tomorrow!
 
On crutches so not slogging through the muck on them, Shame for those competing, what a washout this year. Seems its just not going to be the year for competing our horses :(
 
Lovely weather today apart from one shower. Lot less busy than previous years thought.

This is the weather for the parade on friday

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I went today and weather was ok - just one or two heavy showers. It was much quieter than usual and we got there in half an hour - usually takes over an hour in traffic. It was quite mucky in places but not too bad. Some of the jumping was called off i think but still had a lovely day.
 
Its a shame the forecast was so bad people stayed away, weather turned out lovely, i even managed to get a bit sunburnt
Its funny people saying the parking was bad, we had fiestas there every day and had no problems getting in or out of the car parks. We were there at a hair past stupid oclock this am so got parked on a dry bit
 
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We went on Friday and saw some lovely section D's and Highlands early on.
We were really looking forward to the parade and waited and waited and waited, what a bloody joke!
1 hour in and the owners/handlers were understandably struggling to keep their bored horses under control, then the heavens opened and horses started freaking out at the thunder and lightning.
So it got cancelled which was fair enough considering the state of the horses, but if the organisers had got it sorted on time then the parade would have been long finished before the storm.

Stayed on to see the working hunter classes as my daughters pal was competing, horrible conditions for the competitors but they braved it and I saw a lot of courage in their riding.

I'd give the highland another chance, but if the parade nonsense was to happen again I'll be sticking to Blair castle in future.
 
Welshie Squisher said:
We were really looking forward to the parade and waited and waited and waited, what a bloody joke!
1 hour in and the owners/handlers were understandably struggling to keep their bored horses under control, then the heavens opened and horses started freaking out at the thunder and lightning.
So it got cancelled which was fair enough considering the state of the horses, but if the organisers had got it sorted on time then the parade would have been long finished before the storm.
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Brewery and p1ss-up come to mind for the parade. :mad: They do it every bloody year and every bloody year they can't organise it.

They cancelled it on Sat as the ground was just too wet but went ahead today. And 3/4 of the highland ponies missed it as the organizers were so useless!!!! We were all standing about in the stables waiting to be called in by class, only to discovered they'd gone without most of us:rolleyes: If you're told to wait in your stable until called you actually need to BE called, and loud enough to hear!!!
 
Oh it really doesn't surprise me Kallibear, I saw plenty of poor organisation and chaos.

I understand that they can't do anything about the weather, and the place being flooded, and raining inside the shopping tents was rather amusing unless you were the owner of everything being rained on, but I can't help but feel that they cause many of their own problems.

Was your stabled flooded out? My daughter had great fun in that huge puddle by them, but it was all running off into the stables which can't have been much fun for the owners, I saw many that were totally flooded :(

On a positive note, there were some fab highlands and I must have seen yours.
What a gorgeous bunch, I have no idea really on how they judge but I'm a big fan of the dun ones, so many lovely examples like yours :D

The section D champion was also awesome, a black stallion. I can't remember his name but I think he won at the Royal Welsh also. A diet wouldn't hurt tho ;) lol
 
The D Champion was Llanarth Prince Of Wales. A truly stunning creature but couls be with losing a fair whack of weight to be honest - bum high, gullet and neck as thick as a bus due to lard really can't be good for it! The D classes appeared to be judged purely on weight - the fattest going down to the trimmest.
 
Yeah it was a shame EKW, he is magnificent but he wobbled horribly being so obese. Most definitely not good for him, but whilst judges reward obesity it will be the way :(
I did wonder what he'd look like fit, because despite the fat you could still see what a stunning boy he was :D
 
Welshie Squisher said:
Oh it really doesn't surprise me Kallibear, I saw plenty of poor organisation and chaos.

I understand that they can't do anything about the weather, and the place being flooded, and raining inside the shopping tents was rather amusing unless you were the owner of everything being rained on, but I can't help but feel that they cause many of their own problems.

Was your stabled flooded out? My daughter had great fun in that huge puddle by them, but it was all running off into the stables which can't have been much fun for the owners, I saw many that were totally flooded :(

On a positive note, there were some fab highlands and I must have seen yours.
What a gorgeous bunch, I have no idea really on how they judge but I'm a big fan of the dun ones, so many lovely examples like yours :D

The section D champion was also awesome, a black stallion. I can't remember his name but I think he won at the Royal Welsh also. A diet wouldn't hurt tho ;) lol
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I seen the same horse and thought the EXACT same thing, and I voiced it and got the most disgusted looks from the people around me - including my friend!

'He's just cresty- he's a stallion!'

no, anymore crest on that and you will need some sort of support to hold it up lol!

He was laaaavley though!
 
Haha Jenni, I too got some dirty looks for my fat comments. But my god it's a bloody sin to allow a horse to be that fat :(

Did u also see the liver chestnut stallion in the working hunter?
Now that would have been a hard one to judge, which was the fattest of the two ;) lol
I think he was entered in the section D stallion class also but just didn't have it like Llanarth Prince of Wales.
 
The chestnut would have Llangerlans (sp?) Mikes Lad. I think he is too horsey for a D. I had my lad in the 2 & 3yo D's and he looks like a 3yo. The front line all looked about 8yo they were that fat!
 
EKW said:
The chestnut would have Llangerlans (sp?) Mikes Lad. I think he is too horsey for a D. I had my lad in the 2 & 3yo D's and he looks like a 3yo. The front line all looked about 8yo they were that fat!
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I think I know which one you are on about, because I asked my friend who is very into Welsh Ds and showing, if that was a proper D as I didn't think so, as I thought it was very 'horsey' (it was that horsey I actually probably would have had it - which is saying something because I don't like Welsh Cobs!) and she said it was but it wouldn't be winning any prizes (how scoffy of her ;))

I must say I did voice my opinions on their weight rather loudly so I was carted off by said friend soon and dumped in the Herdsmen so she could go back and watch them all wobble about in peace ;)
 
I did the ridden D class a few years ago and didn't think the tops where obese as such although fatter than I personally like. I was placed in the top 10 with mine who I feel is slim for a Welsh Cob (as I did other things with him like eventing etc.), but he did look probably too slim compared to the others above him! I loved doing the D class, it was pretty manic pelting round with about 20 others Welsh Cobs.
 
Did anyone else see the lame horse in the Middleweight Hunters that was quite highly placed?

My horse didn't go well in the Novice Ridden Hunter, (he wanted to canter and was looking for something to jump, but he's only 5) but was still disappointed that the judge decided not to ride 1/3 of a class of 13, yet kept us waiting in the rain.

The Working Hunter was meant to be 1m14 but was only about 1.05.

My other favourite "moment" was seeing the Ridden 4 and 5 Year Old Sports Horse classes take place, a great mystery to me as I would have entered them had they been listed in the Schedule.
 
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I thought llanarth Prince of Wales was bay....................

Off to google lol. I do hate seeing FAT showing horses, would rather fit with a covering as the rolls and jiggling you see on some of them. Shame not all judges put the fattest at the bottom :(
 
You can't beat a good D! Mines a Gwynfaes by Thorneyside The Gaffer out G Gurnevere (sorry, can't spell that in Welsh!) who is by Crugybar Mabon Mai and is a full sister to Gwynfaes Culwhic ( again bad at welsh spellings lol)
 
There were some very fat horses but also breeds that weren't as fat as I expected. Many of the highlands etc were a lot less fat than some years.

Welsh D Males were disgusting: the one who won was obese. And such a shame too that gelding has to compete against stallions: they have no chance! HW hunters were equally disgusting: some wobbled into the rings :(
 
Not quite fair to say that the geldings stood no chance against the stallions. They stand a better chance there than in with the mares. In the 2 & 3yo D class a gelding was 3rd below a colt and a filly and above a whole host of others of every gender. Maybe the gelding were clearly not as good as the stallions.
 
EKW said:
Not quite fair to say that the geldings stood no chance against the stallions. They stand a better chance there than in with the mares. In the 2 & 3yo D class a gelding was 3rd below a colt and a filly and above a whole host of others of every gender. Maybe the gelding were clearly not as good as the stallions.
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Up to a certain age there's not much difference in geldings to stallions. But welsh D stallions are one of the most 'stallion-y' breeds about and an adult gelding is going to struggle against a screaming, prancing banana-backed lump of lardy lunatic (which is what seems to pass as a good welsh D stallion). The stallions and geldings didn't even look like the same breed of horse :eek: I much prefered a couple of the geldings as useful members of horse society, but then I dislike welsh cobs !
 
I totally agree with you Kallibear, the welsh Ds stallion gelding class was awful. My friends gelding finished up top gelding but he was slim and fitter looking.
The winner had plenty of prescence but i don't understand how that is a good example of the breed.
 
There was a beautiful bay in that class I think - was that your friends gelding?

He was impeccably behaved from what I seen. He was actually rather lovely and not very 'D' like if it is the correct one.
 
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